ARTS, BRIEFLY; Slavery Museum Files For Bankruptcy

By KEVIN FLYNN

Published: September 24, 2011

CORRECTION APPENDED

The United States National Slavery Museum, an organization founded by the former Virginia governor Douglas L. Wilder to build a museum in Frederickburg, Va., that would discuss that chapter in American history, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that the museum indicated in its bankruptcy filing that it had $3 million in unsecured debts. Among its unpaid bills is one for more than $215,000 in property taxes owed on the 38-acre parcel where the museum was to have opened several years ago. Since then, the proposed museum's director has departed, its board has stopped meeting and some people who gave artifacts to the museum have asked for their return.

The museum's major remaining asset is its land and last summer Fredericksburg officials said they planned to sell the property. But the bankruptcy filing on Wednesday will have the effect of blocking any sale, at least temporarily, the Times-Dispatch reported.

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.

Correction: September 28, 2011, Wednesday

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: A report in the ''Arts, Briefly'' column on Saturday about a bankruptcy filing by the United States National Slavery Museum misstated the name of the organization's founder, who is also a former governor of Virginia. He is L. Douglas Wilder, not Douglas L. Wilder.